"SABOR" is a food & wine and lifestyle series that savors Latinos' zest for life and passion for home and family.    

"If I can describe myself in one bite, it would be this dish, the mini arepa -- it's crispy, sweet, salty, hot, cold, creamy herbaceous, amazingness," Chef Kelvin Fernandez told Latin Post in an exclusive interview for "SABOR."

It was this very savory recipe -- which includes steak, lime-scented sour cream, creamy guacamole, pico de gallo and Cotija cheese -- that the Dominican chef used to claim victory over the legendary food star and TV personality Bobby Flay on Season 4 of Food Network's "Beat Bobby Flay."

And while extremely humbled by the experience, Chef Fernandez still tastes the sweetness of the culinary triumph a month later. Now that's a great recipe for success and sustainability!

On April 3, Chef Fernandez's culinary career would be forever changed when he had a culinary stand-off with Japanese Chef Chris Kobayashi to kick off the episode that would eventually lead to a cooking competition against the infamous Flay.

The assigned challenge, spearheaded by judges Alison Sweeney and the "Food Network's" Sunny Anderson, was to create a shiitake mushroom dish within 20 minutes. Chef Kobayashi made a shiitake mushroom dish with tofu, cream sauce and a poached egg while Chef Fernandez created a shiitake mushroom pasta with fried egg yolk.

Chef Fernandez defeated Chef Kobayashi and went up against Flay. For the "Bobby Flay challenge," Chef Fernandez was given the option to select a signature dish of his preference and he selected his acclaimed Arepa dish. Needless to say, his signature cripsy Arepa dish wowed and won the judges over.

"The first time that I really got this (arepa) dish rated was with 'Beat Bobby Flay' where you have these amazing judges," Chef Fernandez explained. "It's a blind tasting, so they don't know who did what dish.  There is no bias whatsoever, and I think that's what is best about the show."

"One of the judges said that I did what they aspire to do every time they are creating a dish, and that's the prefect balance of levels of textures and flavors," he added. "It's exciting to hear that because that was the moment I heard, 'thank you,' you understand my food."

Throughout the five seasons of the show, Flay has been defeated four times. Chef Fernandez's victory marks "Flay's fifth loss and positions him as the first Latin chef to defeat the legendary culinary master."

Now with summer upon us, Chef Fernandez, who is currently the Executive Chef of La Marina restaurant in New York City, continues to turn up the heat. He's introduced his Summer 2015 preview menu, in which this writer can attest to its major yum-factor and fresh and savory summer appeal.

Even Flay has been known to stop by La Marina to lend his support and see what Chef Fernandez is cooking up -- and to still keep him on his toes, of course!

"Bobby Flay is an absolute gentleman and he's an amazing master at what he does," he said. "That's what the cool thing about the show 'Beat Bobby Flay' is, that everyone wants to beat Bobby Flay. Everybody wants to have that opportunity to beat an 'Iron Chef.'"

At La Marina, Chef Fernandez's latest signature dishes have quickly become customer favorites and include:

Lobster Flat Bread, "a summer staple" that includes fresh lobster served up with a black bean puree, baby arugula and chipotle cilantro crema.

Summer Peach Salad and Chilled Corn Soup, which features roasted peaches with baby arugula, ricotta croquette and balsamic dressing. His chilled corn soup highlights the blend of roasted corn salad, cilantro essence and tomato ice.

Yuca Benedict, where Chef Fernandez incorporates his Latin flavors in this innovative dish that features perfectly poached eggs, topped with yuca croquettes, chorizo, and a smoked paprika hollandaise.

Chicken & Savory Waffles, which is "La Marina's own take on the brunch favorite," that includes a Tabasco-marinated fried chicken combined with a savory bacon & cheddar waffle and topped with a honey mustard maple syrup.

Yeah, you heard that right -- honey mustard maple syrup! And yes, it is out of this world!

At La Marina, foodies will be able to experience the renowned chef's twist on contemporary American cuisine fused with flavors from around the world.

"Chef Kelvin is known for embracing his Dominican roots and melding traditional Latino ingredients with his strong European culinary influences into classic American dishes," according to his bio. "At just 29 years old, Chef Kelvin is the youngest executive chef in New York City's fine dining scene and was recently selected as one of Forbes Magazine's Thirty Under Thirty."

Many famous palates have tasted Chef Fernandez's food -- from rapper/actor 50 Cent to Grammy and Oscar Award-winning singer/songwriter John Legend and his wife model/TV co-host Chrissy Teigen, "Orange Is the New Black" star Dascha Polanco, Aventura's Henry Santos, and DJ/radio personality Alex Sensation. 

Chef Fernandez continues to get a thrill when people stop him on the street to congratulate him for beating Flay, especially when they aren't typically fans of the Food Network.

"I think at the end of the day, you practice for this moment, you practice for being in the spotlight, looking at your right and seeing that your competitor is an 'Iron Chef.' ... I remember practicing for this event, but you can throw that all out the window, the moment you step into that arena, your mind goes blank. Your heart starts racing. ...

"I always say if you're not nervous at what you're doing then you don't love what you're doing. You want to succeed, you want to be on top, you want to win. Anything that could have went wrong, went wrong that day (my arepa batter fell) but that's real. Nothing is staged on that show... Even with my worst arepa I still won."

Chef Fernandez is a native New Yorker who was born in Harlem to his father, who's also a chef, and his mother, who shares his love of cooking Domincan food. He has also been a runner up on the Food Network's "Chopped" (Season 14. 2011) and appeared on the HLN Network's inaugural season of "Cook Your A** Off" (Season 1. 2014).

Before his culinary career catapulted on TV, Chef Fernandez earned a full scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America in HJyde Park, New York. He then went on to work at Michelin-starred Water's Edge in Long Island City. He also worked at Gotham Bar & Grill as well as Café des Artistes. At just 22 years old, he was tapped to become the executive chef at El Antipasti in Westchester, where he spent two years before landing the Executive Chef of the STRAND American Bistro, located in the heart of New York's Fashion District.